A Good thing and some not so good things...

The good thing... we ended up getting that other HUD under contract. I told you I was going to submit an offer a week until I got it for what I wanted? I resubmitted on Monday and they came down another 10% so I got it at the $55k I wanted. This one definately needs to be inspected though. Not as nice of updates at the others but in a good area.

The bad thing... my husband Dave's brother in law's mother passed away this past Sunday. She had a severe stroke a couple months ago but she seemed to be doing okay. On December 8th she went in to hospice and then passed on the 20th. Very sad. She was a lovely woman and many, many people will miss her. I know she is much more comfortable where she is now though!!

Another not so good thing... I bought the book of the month club book "Million Dollar Habits" by Brian Tracy. Do you think I cracked in open? Uuhhh, no. However I did read the third book in the Twighlight saga (don't give me any crap, it sucks but I need to know how it ends - and DON'T tell me).

Yet another not so good thing... I have not even thought about my goals for 2010. Well, I've thought about how many houses I want to flip but that's about it.... Not true. I know I want to do the triathlon again and complete it at a better time than I did last yeart. There, that's 2. I would also like to be more organized. Easier said than done...

Well, I've got some things to work on don't I??? I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a HAPPY/prosperous New year!!

We closed early!

The bank was able to close our HUD property even earlier than we had hoped! Ya gotta love those local banks!! I pre-signed Weds night and the buyer closed yesterday morning. My realtor told me the buyer was sooo excited he couldn't sleep the night before - ha, ha. She said she thought he was going to cry he was so happy. Makes me feel kinda warm and fuzzy! The profit we made off this property pre-tax is $18,680 ish. WOW! This is the most I've made off a wholesale deal yet. I'm sure it's peanuts compared to what others are making but, boy howdy, I am thrilled! We are going to pay off 2 credit cards in FULL and pay another $2k on another card. We will only have 1 CC left... WOO HOO! After that is paid off (with any luck our next HUD will pay it off) we start tackling the car loan. At this point we still will not have any extra cash laying around : ) It's all for the greater good though!!

What a great Christmas present!!

Okay, back to business. We did not get that HUD I've been watching FOREVER! They will not budge on their price. Sooo, I'm going to make an offer every week it is available until the price is reduced again.

Another HUD came on the market today in a great school district and a great price great. We're going to take a look Sunday. Unless it is a POS we'll be able to bid close to asking. It looks pretty nice from the outside but it does sit on a busy road. It's always something with these houses.

Next year I want to be able to have 1 accepted HUD offer per month, or any REO for that matter. I'm thinking I might try to focus more on HUD since I have so much luck with them. The issue is that I will have to go outside my area a little bit more. This means I have to do more studying of towns. I'll have to think about this a little more. If I want to get to my ultimate goal I need to close at least 1 property per month which means I need at least 1 accepted offer per month. It doesn't sound too hard, does it? Ha, ha. I laugh b/c this was my goal last year. I will keep making this goal until I have been successful!!

Everyone have a good weekend!!

Closings, contracts and Christmas

We are set to close our HUD property next Monday which is about 2 weeks earlier than our contract states. Yeah!

We got another HUD property under contract. Yeah! This is the one my husband went to look at a week ago. Apparently it has new vinyl windows, new siding, new high efficiency furnace, newer roof, etc. Sounds like just some carpet, paint and appliances on the inside. We will probably close on this one next February.

We're also looking at another HUD (you're shocked, I know) and just trying to get our price. I've been watching this one for quite some time and they are just not coming down to where we need to be... My agent just sent me some updated sold comps and the two lowest are $60k & $73k, then go from $118k - $173k. We are looking to get the property for no more than $55k.

I did not go to Steve's event last week. Jodi, if you're reading this did you go? The snow was insane by me on Wednesday and I didn't go to work. Thursday I was concerned about the wind/drifting/ice on the expressway. Urrggh. Another one missed. Hopefully there will be another one soon!

I got most of my Christmas shopping done this past weekend. I always say I'm not going to wait this long to shop and inevitably I always do... and get frustrated! It's crazy out there!

Quick updates

Everything for the HUD closing is moving along nicely. No snags as of yet.

There is another HUD we are looking at closely. My husband went to look at it yesterday and liked it a lot. We submitted a lowball offer yesterday and are waiting on their counter. We're not sure we'll be able to get it at the price we need so we may have to wait for the next price reduction (which should be in 2 weeks).

We submitted another offer this week. There are some other properties we're still looking at but I need to re-organize my thoughts/properties.

I'm still waiting on mls access. I guess it was all smoke and mirrors until I just forgot about wanting access : ) Next year may be the year I'll be a licensed realtor?! I will ask this broker if I can hang my license with him though since he is so investor friendly (he is a rehabber himself).

Tomorrow we are headed to Chicago for our yearly visit to Santa at Macy's, ice skating in Millenium Park, dinner/drinks/good times with family, etc. We are ALL looking forward to it. I just love seeing my kids so excited!! They have been looking forward to it for WEEKS! ha, ha.

Everyone have a great weekend!

The universe WAS listening!!

Yep, we have an accepted offer on the HUD house so, apparently, the universe was listening. Or was it my positive thinking : ) At any rate, the offer was accepted on Friday. We were not sure about his credit but I just found out his score is a 770 (WOW!) and he is going through a local credit union so seasoning should not be an issue! Our closing date is scheduled for Jan. 4th but the guy would like to close before Christmas. I guess we'll have to see how fast his bank moves. They already have the appriasal set up for this week or next so00... maybe?? If all goes well and we close successfully this will be the biggest payoff for us to date. I am not going to post any numbers until we close.

My husband checked the oil tank and it (drum roll please!) was full of oil. Dumb HVAC company. When I called the co. and told them it had oil the guy said, "oh, maybe there is a plugged line?". Hmmm, did you think of checking that a week ago?!?!?

Two HUD properties went down in price but are currently listed for o/o's. We cannot bid on them until next week so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that no one snatches them up. However, I'm bracing myself for the letdown since it's happening quite a bit lately! I'm pretty confident I can get the 1 at the price I need and the other is a condo in an area of high priced condos. So, we'll see.

Still didn't hear back on the other REO's. Yeah, I guess they rejected. I'll keep an eye out. Also watching other properties and going to submit on a few short sales.

I think I'm going to Steve's event in the WI Dells on the 10th. I haven't signed up yet but already took the day off work. It's a little over an hour from my house so it will be a 1 day deal for me.

Updates/HUD House

None of the HUD properties we put offers on last week had another price reduction (even though 2 are past due!).

One of the REO offers we put in accepted another offer. We're still waiting to hear back on the other 3. Since we haven't heard from them I'm assuming they rejected our offer. I'll keep watching.

We have a lot of activity on the HUD home we listed. Again, no contracts but a lot of interest which makes me happy. We are hoping for 3 showings tomorrow which is good since it's the day before a Thanksgiving. At least I think it's good! Sooo, I am trying to get the furnace up and running since it is getting quite cold here in WI. I set up an appt for the oil to be filled last Thursday and an appt for the HVAC guy to go out on Friday. Friday I get a call from the HVAC co. saying the oil tank is empty. After I get that message I call the oil company and they tell me they filled the tank the previous day. I made sure they had the correct address and told them I would look into it. I personally checked it this past Sunday and it looks empty to me (but I am no professional). I called the oil company today and we basically got in to an argument on the phone and she accused me of calling her driver a liar. ha, ha. I told her I was just trying to figure this out b/c I need to get my FURNACE WORKING! Urrrgghhh. How frustrating is that? I think the driver filled the tank of the wrong house even though they have the correct address. Our address is 261 South Monroe and I think they went to North Monroe. Just a guess.... I'm rambling, I know.

I'm hoping to go look at some properties Sunday morning to try and get another property under contract. I WISH we could get some consistancy with this whole flipping thang!!

Still haven't heard about my mls access even though I bring it up about every other day. Are you all getting the same feeling as me... he's changed his mind?

Everyone have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!!

Not much going on

As expected we received counters on our HUD offers. None were good enough to accept so we are waiting for another price reduction and hoping no one buys in the meantime! Here are the numbers if anyone is interested (By the way, the 1st list price is true. Do you love it?! 1-2-3-4-5-6 They really thought about that list price!):

Listed Price Our Offer Counter from HUD
$123,456 $65k $98,900 (80%)
$94k $50k $65.8 (70%)
$98k $78.4 $60k (80%)

HUD is great b/c you almost always have an idea of what they will counter with. Not always but most of the time. Sometimes they come in even lower. It seems to me that they follow a formula for when they lower the % they will accept. I have found that a new listing will never go for less than 90%, if a property has a "Price Reduction" they usually take 80%, the 2nd price reduction is 70% and "Significant Price Reduction"(s) usually start at 60% and go down from there. I know other people will argue with me that there is no "formula" and they can get HUD properties for much less than what I am saying. This may be true but from what I've seen these numbers hold true. And, I'm sure the house itself/location makes a big difference.

Anyway, enough of boring everyone. We also got out the 4 REO offers I talked about in my last post. My husband went to look at one and he really liked it which is rare. This is the one in a higher price range. When he and our realtor were looking at it another group came to look at the same time. We're pretty sure we are not going to get that one. As for the other 3 offers, we are about $30k apart on price... heehee. One is actually $40k now that I think about it. There is 1 out of the 4 that may come back with a decent counter but we shall see.

Okay, there have been a few showings on the property we just closed on and a lot of good comments but no contract yet. I'm thinking positive thoughts and telling the universe that we WILL have a contract by next weekend!! Are you listening? ha, ha.

I think that's it for now. Everyone have a great weekend!!

HUD closing yesterday

We closed on the $43k HUD home yesterday. I posted pictures a couple weeks ago. It is in good shape, not much needed. My husband went out there today to replace the locks, meet the plumber and have the water/electric turned on. Apparently the plumber told him we need to replace all the water fixtures in the house, including toilets. This was an expense I was not expecting (is there any other?). My husband is of the mind to sell the properties without having the water turned on and let the next person get things fixed. I agree with this mentality if we were selling to investors. However, since some of our homes are sold to o/o's my thought process is to make the property 'move in ready' to start the cosmetic updates. I have found many people to be uncomfortable buying homes with no utilities on no matter what the price. BUT, since we live in Wisconsin and are going into the winter season freezing pipes cause concern too. At any rate, I am going to get them fixed and hopefully entice buyers even more!

Let's see... I put in 4 HUD offers yesterday. I'm expecting them all to be countered, not accepted. I want to know where they stand on price. This is one reason why I love submitting on HUD properties. I'm also going to get another 4 offers out on regular REO properties. We are VERY far apart on numbers so I'm not expecting any positive results but I need to just get some offers out there.

There is one interesting property that I would like to look at soon (those words seem to be the kiss of death for me these days, it has probably already sold!). This property is a bit different though in the sense that it is in a higher price range than I usually go after. It's ARV is a conservative $189k and it is priced at $124k. Of course I have not idea of repairs at this point but want to take a look.

My son threw my phone in the toilet this weekend - good times! So I'm phoneless, it's weird but I have to get another one sometime this week.

Friday the 13th - not having a great week.

The $50k HUD property I was 99% sure we were going to get was sold to someone else. They actually bid $62k when it was listed at $50k. I guess the wanted the house... bad?! I'm still watching to see if it comes back on the market, for some reason a lot of them pop back up. However, I hate to say I'm pretty sure this one is solid. Urrgh. In my neck of the woods HUD homes sit for a while but not this one!

We were set to look at another HUD tonight that's been on the market for a looong time. I looked this morning and it is sold. What the F*$K?!?!?! Frustration sets in.

My meeting with Michelle's broker did not go as I had hoped. I AM getting mls access, I think but I'm sure I'll still have to push for it. He left me a little more confused rather than anyting else. Unfortunately I don't have the time to go into details now.

We were set to show the single mom the HUD property we're closing on Monday, Tuesday night but now she is going out of town. So we cannot show this (to her) until next week. There is someone else rather eager to get in and we can't show her until next weekend. What's another week, right? Anyway, I got 2 ads going in the papers and I think I'm going to list with my realtor for $69k. We'll see how it goes.

What else? We are just coming SOOO CLOSE to getting properties under contract but nothing has been solidifying! Next year I really want to focus on getting 1 property under contract a month and selling 1 per month. This was my goal this year but unfortunately we did not successfully complete that goal. I believe we are going to have to make some tweaks to our processes in order to accomplish this goal. Maybe put in some offers on short sales? We will not be doing another letter campaign in the near future though. The short sale offers would be through my realtor. The one thing I KNOW I have to do, and soon, is organize myself. I'm very, very, very bad and getting and staying organinzed. My office is embarrassingly unorganized. It's a wonder I can flip one house, let alone have a goal of 1/month!

Anyway, I have to go. Everyone have a good weekend and keep making those offers!!

Real quick...

The HUD home for $50k that we looked at over the weekend was nice. Well, as nice as a HUD home can be : ) No work on the outside, nice deck with nice fenced in yard that has a view of the lake (it kind of sits on a hill). The roof/siding were in good shape too. The inside was as expected needing carpet, paint, appliances, etc. It is listed as only a 2/1 at 984 sq ft but the basement is studded out/insulated just waiting to be finished. It also has a 1/2 bath that has plumbing and electric already done including a new toilet and sink. The basement just needs drywall, tape/mud, paint, carpet and some finishing. This would add another 300 sq. ft and a 1/2 bath. Not really another bedroom though unless you made the whole thing your bedroom? It also has a framed out bar for those who like to entertain - ha, ha. Anyway, I think this is a good deal so we are putting in an offer of $48k total so I'm expecting to get an accepted offer tomorrow unless someone bids $50k (which would still be a good deal). Hopefully we'll get this one under contract.

There are also 3 other HUD properties we are watching and waiting to come down one more time to make them good deals. I'll keep you posted.

The HUD home we are closing on Monday may have a buyer. We do not have a contract BUT I think she really wants the house. She is newly divorced single mom looking for cheap housing. Oh, I think I mentioned her in a previous post... her mortgage would be WAAY cheaper than rent. Anyway, she told me today she would be getting a USDA loan which I think could cause seasoning issues. I really don't want to hold the house 3 months if necessary but I think this house would be a great fit for her! IF she really wants to put an offer in I may talk to my lender and see what he can do. I want to help her out if I can.........

I have to go back to work. Later!

The Comback House Came Back & My husband was right...

We FINALLY closed on the Comeback House (and successfully I might add). The closing was Tuesday afternoon but I have not had a chance to post since. We lost more money than I originally anticipated but as I said before I've come to terms with it. Hopefully the next house (closing with HUD 11/16) will cover that loss. I had a buyer who was biting at the bit to get inside. She is pre-approved, she rents at $1,000/mo and is looking to buy in this neighborhood. At the price I'm selling she would be looking at $650/mo (w/ taxes & ins). Anyhoo my realtor said she would take her through and then backed out at the last minute. Of course, I shouldn't have expected anything less. Soooo, to make a long story short, we have a meeting set up with her broker to see if I can become her assistant, get access to mls, lockboxes, HUD KEYS!, etc... If we cannot work out an agreement I told her I was getting licensed. Period. End of story.

On to the $43k house... we went out with our inspector and it seems the property does not sit on a foundation. It was sitting on concrete bricks. Nice. We obviously could not continue with the deal, no one will be able to rehab the house without putting in a foundation and the house is not worth saving so it would be a knock down/rebuild.

There are a few more HUD properties we are looking at. One came on the market this week in a nice area (we sold a home there earlier in the year) at $50k. It is a nice size 2/1 with a 1 car garage. Unless it is crap on the inside we could probably list for $69k. However, the HUD condition report did not state anything that bad but we will see. We are also going to look at a few other properties.

For those who would like emails sent to them when I enter a new post, please send me your email and I will mark you down as wanting updates. My email is eobrien15@yahoo.com.

I think that's it for now. Will update with our findings this weekend.

One Down, one to go!!

Last night was the successful closing of our last two condos! WOO HOO! They will definately be profitable for the current owners going forward, especially since they are getting the condo association formed. BUT, when you do not have a lot of cash flow (as I'm assuming these guys do) you're kind of limited. We'll get there one day. We broke even on these units and may have lost a little with all the fixes we needed to put into the one unit but all's good.

Monday I am going to pre-sign for the Comeback house. It is scheduled to close Tuesday morning. Yeah, a pretty big loss here BUT over the past few months I have come to terms with it. It is what it is and we will move on! We may even make an extra couple hundred dollars b/c the previous owners left a refrigerator, window A/C unit and an antique dryer. We've been told the dryer is worthless but it's pretty cool looking.

Halloween this weekend - FUN! We're just doing kids stuff but I love seeing them have such a great time! We are also going to the $43k house with the guy that does our inspections. I'm going to see if this is, in fact, the deal I think it is OR if my dear ole hubby is right. I'll keep you posted!

Inspections/Appraisals

The inspection and appraisal are being done tomorrow on the Comeback house. It's GO TIME! This is when we will know for sure whether closing will take place. As of today, closing is still set for next Tuesday. I have no idea whether that will happen or not but I think I'll have a better idea first thing Wednesday.

I took my husband out to see the $43k property and he thought it was a complete gut job. I think he's nuts! For sure it needs work but a gut job?! Urrgh... not sure what to do. I mean it definately needs work. Let's see it needs windows, garage roof replaced, new bath, kitchen counters/sink, paint, carpet, appliances and a bit of landscaping. He said he thought $30k for repairs but I think that's a bit high. However, I've been wrong before (see comeback house : ) ) I'm thinking of sending it out to my buyers list, put an ad in the paper and see what kind of activity I get. I also might get a cleaner in there prior to showing (prior to closing too... sssshhhhh). There are cobwebs with an inch of dust on them in some rooms. Nice!

There is another property I submitted an offer on a while back at $60k, they countered at $72k (original list price $74.5k), I countered at $62k best and final. They passed. The house is now listed at $64k and I resubmitted at $50k with basement mold inspection. Hmmm, we'll see what they say.

Condos are still on schedule to close this Thursday. Hope all goes well!

I think that's it for now.

Has the Comeback house... Come back?!?!

That remains to be seen. We DO have an offer on the table that we have been countering since the end of last week but nothing signed yet. Of course, once signed we need to get through the inspection/financing contingencies! This will be an FHA loan also so that can throw a wrench into closing. I have a good feeling about it whether that be "wishful thinking" or "third time is a charm" syndrome but I'm still keeping good/positive thoughts. She had closing as Nov. 3rd on her original offer so we would close mid-November which makes me happy too. Please keep you fingers crossed to get this one off our books!

We are set to close on our condos next Friday. Looking forward to getting rid of those!

We are also set to close on our next HUD property Nov. 16th. Still not sure whether we will put a little work in to the house (carpet/paint/refrigerator) and sell at $89k or just sell as is for $59k (our PP is $43k)? Here are a couple pictures...

Let's see, what else? My realtor moved agencies and she is even busier now than before. There were 3 properties I wanted to put offers on but never got the written offers from her. Well they all sold. Urgh. There is another property I've been trying to get a written offer on since 10/1 and she STILL has not written it up and faxed it to me! This is even AFTER I've told her about those other 3 properties selling. I know, I know, it's my fault. I was going to talk to her about me getting licensed last weekend when I met her but my husband threw a fit and told me to wait until after the condos closed (he wants them gone as badly as I do). I know she wouldn't cause problems b/c I DO still want to work with her but I guess you just never know? At any rate, the new brokerage is investor friendly and the owner also does rehabs which is good for me. After we sell the condos I'm going to talk to her about becoming her "assistant" so I can submit offers/access mls/etc when she is too busy. I'm also going to ask if I can talk to her new broker about it. As you can see, I'm trying to avoid getting licensed at all costs but counting on just my realtor to get things done is not working in my favor. Okay, enough about that.

Finally an REO came on the market last weekend for $43k. It is in a desirable area, near town, lakes, restaurants, large lot, etc but it was only a 2/1. I have a bad taste in my mouth for 2/1's but b/c of the price I asked to go take a look. Well, this is the first time I've gone into a property where the listing description was WRONG. I know Steph has talked about this but I've never seen it. This listing agent (who is a total B~ BTW) must have never gone in the house. Don't get me wrong, it's not huge by any means BUT it does have 3 BR's, a LR, Family room, porch and kitchen. You can tell it had an addition put on but must not have been re-assessed/updated in system. The garage is marked as a 1 car garage but it also has a HUGE work area so it could easily be made in to a 2 car garage OR you could store a boat or something in there. Anyhoo, I came in at $38k and still haven't heard anything. It doesn't sound like there are other offers out there so not sure why the bank hasn't countered yet? We're only $5k away on price. Hopefully this one will pan out.

Okay, gotta run.

No new contracts

I thought we were going to have another house under contract this week but, no can do. The one I really wanted is in a neighborhood where I have an investor looking, the bank is at $75k and I offered $60k. We were not that far apart. After a couple of counters I went highest and best at $62k and they rejected (they were at $70k). This listing agent said there were no other offers on the table. Oh well, I'll keep watching and waiting. Maybe I'll get it even lower. There was another property in good shape, same neighborhood that came on the market at $82k, I offered $62k. This one is not bank owned but a probate. Anyway, they completely rejected. Not sure if they will sell it for $82k b/c the basement is 1/2 dirt. People do not like that much around here.

Okay, so I just read the post over on flippinghome.com http://www.flippinghomes.com/forum/replies.aspx?tp=1&tr=164355#m179198. This has me a little confused/frightened. Did I misread this or is Steve Cook actually saying to hold vs. rehab/wholesale? I've determined that we are not landlord material NOR do we have the money to put in to rentals. I can't wrap my mind around laying off REI during this time b/c it would SEEM to be the best time to buy. But if people won't be buying??!!?! Okay, someone make me feel better about this....

Unsure of what to do next............

Update on the Comback House and more

So I've received about a dozen calls on the "Comeback house" and not ONE person has called back to take a walk through. OUCH! Did I misread this property or WHAT?! I'm so mad at myself but I digress. Anyhoo, last night I got a call from the buyer who's financing fell through a couple months ago (remember, I thought I was going to puke?). He saw my ad/number and wanted to know if I would be interested in doing a rent to own, which I mentioned to him before but then got the other offer. At the time his financing fell through I mentioned the rent to own to my husband and he was against the idea. We talked about it again last night and we think we are going to go that route. I am going to call him back letting him know how it works. I will need $1k in non-refundable deposit for the house that will be applied to his downpayment and 1 months rent. I will also be crediting him $100/month for downpayment when we close. My selling price will be $79k. He was going to be paying $72k but since we're holding another year I'm upping the price. He will also be responsible for everything in the house. I'm going to talk to him about all this today and send out an application to get things rolling! We'll see what happens. If all goes well I would like to have him in the house no later than November 1st... maybe even mid-October!

I got 2 counters today. Nothing great but no rejections.

We're putting out 2 more offers in the next day or two. One is in the town of West Bend where I had people banging down my door to get the property, the other is in a town near me.

That's all for updates!

FINALLY... a successful closing!

What a relief! The closing on Friday went off without a hitch! WOO HOO. I was starting to get a little worried about never doing another successful flip. I guess that is what patience, determination and persistence will get you - a successful flip. I am so relieved I can't even tell you! So we will make about $9.5k pre-taxes, nice. It has a been a looong time ... I hope it doesn't take that long again! We have another HUD under contract that is supposed to be closing the end of October (haven't advertised yet as we do not have signed contracts back) and we are set to close on our condos the end of October also. Things are moving along.

There are several properties we are watching now. Yesterday we went looking at 4 and are making 3 offers. The 4th's location is just too bad to make even a low offer. This is a first for me... someone else can have it. On all 3 we are pretty close on price but we'll see how it plays out. I am hoping to close 2 more (for sure, maybe more) by the end of the year.

I was really looking at going to the KISS Flipping bootcamp next month but I just don't know?!?! I know the content will be excellent and I will get the course but I just do not have the $2k now to go. Well, we have it from the flip but there are many, many, many other bills that need to be paid.

Gotta run.

Making offers again

It looks like Fridays closing should be on schedule for the HUD property. I can not believe how many phone calls I got from our yellow sign in the front yard! Whew. I wish all my properties had that much interest. I'll be looking in this area again!

We signed the offer on our condos. We'll be losing a little on this one too (just getting that all out of our system!) but we'll free up our LOC for downpayment money on future flips! I just hope the bank doesn't close it once we pay it down!

We put in 2 more newspaper ads for the comeback house. I'm hoping something will pop on this one soon!

We have 2 other interesting HUD properties we're looking at. I submitted lowball offers and they came back with decent counters. Hopefully we'll be looking at them this weekend.

There are also about 6 other properties we will be submitting offers on next week most likely. We'll see what happens!

Gotta run!

HUD/condo Updates

Our accepted offer for the HUD property is still on schedule to close next Friday but the buyer is being weird about the boiler. Of course this stresses me out a little. The HVAC guys were in there yesterday and need to come back tomorrow b/c there the boiler is not holding pressure... great but not surprising. We wrote up the offer as selling the property "as is" and he knew it was an old boiler however he keeps pushing for us to pay for it. I'm really bad at dealing with this kind of stuff b/c I want the deal closed but I don't want to pay for things we shouldn't be paying for. On a brighter note, we are getting a ton of calls from the sign I put in the front yard (just in case this buyer backed out). I have one secondary offer and probably could have had another if I offered it as an option. The secondary offer I have would be a full price cash offer with a quick close.

We got the offer for the condos last night. It is a bit less than I wanted to sell for so we countered but I think he is going to hang tough on his offer. We have another buyer going through tomorrow but I think he is only interested in buying 1, not both. I would rather sell both at once.

Nothing happening with the comback house.

I have restrained on making offers but am watching a couple houses to see where they are at when I AM able to make offers!

OOOHH, one more thing. The local bank I was trying to build a relationship by refinancing the condos is going to finance my next HUD deal. Yeah, another local bank to do deals. This bank is in the other county I do deals so it's a win-win, I hope. Options... I like options!

Positive thinking

I've been trying to change my way of thinking these days since my negative approach just isn't working : ) Every time I start a negative thought or start worrying about something that is not in my control I say, "God grant me the serenity". Yep, that's all I would say b/c I couldn't remember the rest but now I just looked it up online:

"God, grant me the serenityto accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference."

It seems to calm me down. It's my goal to not get so worked up and stressed about things. I know it will happen from time to time but I want to limit those times. I actually did pretty good about the Lake Geneva property ("house from hell") that fell through. I just can't change it and can only move on and try to find another buyer. Hopefully it will be soon.

More good news. My buyers property inspection last night went okay, nothing for him to back out about. They could not get the boiler on so that is the only sticking point now but I think it will be okay. Also, we are getting an offer on the condos tomorrow. Hopefully that will work out too b/c these buyers have another set of units in the complex so financing should not be an issue.

That is it for now. Gotta run.

The "house from hell" deall fell apart

I could just puke...

I - Must - Stop.......

submitting offers until I clear out some of my inventory! The offer that we have on the "house from hell" (2/1 in Lake Geneva) may be falling apart - again. It has not completely crumbled yet but the signs are there. They were concerned about the foundation so I got a guy out there this weekend who said it was totally fine. There were a few other things (which I consider minor) from their inspection that they want money to fix. I'm not going to bore you with what they want because, honestly, I don't even know for sure. However, their realtor said if we would lower the price she may be able to get it done. I told my realtor to GET THE PLACE SOLD! Sooo, I'm not sure if it is going to get to closing or not? If we do come down in price I will be losing about $5k instead of the $3k I had anticipated. Does this make me happy? Of course not but I need to clear these properties out.

We have someone interested in the condos - no contract - but interest. I'll leave it at that for now.

The buyer for the HUD property we just closed on has his inspection tomorrow night. Hope all goes well! The electric came on fine and the plumber was out this morning and only saw a couple of small things. I'm only worried about some sagging in the floor (which my guy looked at 2x) and the boiler.

That's it for now.

You just never know...

So as you all know, I often put in very, very low bids on HUD properties just to see where they counter. Yesterday I submitted 3 offers and 1 was actually accepted. Crap. Yes, I said crap.

First, if they accepted my first offer it was too high!

Second, I am not really familiar with this area however I know the price is right. It is the only 3br/2ba for sale in this particular town.

Third, and most important, we are broke (as I commented in a previous post). Even though we are broke I am continuing down the RE path. I'm determined to be successful one way or another. If we are not successful we are going to go down in a HUGE bon fire! ha, ha. No it's not really funny b/c I do not want to fail. I have 2 years to create a replaceable income. Every day when I drop my kids at daycare it lights a fire under my ass to keep going. My husband thinks I am out of my mind b/c he knows our financial state but I just need to find buyers before we close (at least that's what I keep telling myself). Anyhoo, the problem we are having is that we don't have EMD money anymore and the holding of the 2/1 in Lake Geneva and the condos is killing us. I have been trying to re-fi the condos to get rid of the high interest LOC but the bank keeps pushing it off. Each time I talked to the mortgage guy he made it sound like it was a done deal, just needed a couple days for title and that was it. I emailed him today and he wants all kinds of shit now. Urrrgh. If we had it refinanced we wouldn't be in this financial predicament. This is another small local bank that I've been trying to build a relationship with but he's making it difficult. The current bank we work with wanted 6 months ownership b/4 they would re-fi me but I didn't want to wait that long. However, since this guy is taking so long I could just wait a couple more weeks to get it re-fi'd by my current lender without jumping through hoops.

There are 2 other properties I am going after. The first I am going to look at tonight. It has a great price listed and could be a real deal but we'll see when we get there. The second is another HUD property (shocker!). The offer I put in was rejected so I'm just waiting for 1 more price decrease and then it should be ours.

So what to do about the EMD's? Hmmmm, I have access to a small amount of cash through a credit card I could use? It just gives me a headache to think about it...

BTW, I try to post comments on other peoples blogs but for some reason I cannot type in the box. For some I can post comments, for others it seems like the comments box is not getting recognized. Has anyone else had that problem?

What's been happenin'

We had our sons 1st birthday party this past weekend. It was very nice. I can't believe he's ONE and will most likely be walking (on his own) any day now.

So most of you know I took and passed my real estate license exam and have just been procrastinating on sending in the paperwork for my licensing. Part of me just doesn't want to go down that road but another part of me thinks it's a necessity. I absolutely need access to the mls - I need to get comps, market analysis', run queries, etc all in a timely manner. My RE agent has been great but I just need need things faster! Soooo, I'm going to tell her today or tomorrow that I'm getting my license. I feel like this is going to be a really awkward conversation and am not sure how to approach it?! I want to continue to use her for listing properties (at least for now) but as far as submitting offers and getting all the info I need I will be able to do that myself. As a reminder, I did ask her for mls access and she said no. I also need to get my hands on a HUD key and she will not give me a copy of that either. Maybe she will change her tune when I tell her I'm getting licensed?! The other thing I need to decide on is whether I should talk to her broker about hanging my license in his office. Would that be too weird?

Okay, I've been talking to a local bank about refinancing the condos to get me out of the high interest unsecured LOC and he can do it but only for 90% of the loan. In other words I will still have about $13k on my unsescured LOC. I guess that's better than what I have now... It's eating away at every penny of profit I have on the place.

We have secured the downpayment for our HUD property. I did break down and ask my parents. I haaated doing that but sometimes you just have to put your pride on the backburner to get things done. Hopefully everything will work out with this!

We got another offer on the 2/1 in Lake Geneva. It is scheduled to close on 10/2 so I can't tell you how much I need everyone to put me in their thoughts and prayers to make sure this closes. We'll be seriously screwed if it doesn't work out.

Looking at a bunch of other properties but haven't submitted any offers. I would really need a slam dunk right now since we have so many balls in the air. I'm hoping to hit things really hard again mid to end of September. I just need confirmation that things will truely be closing.

I think that's it for now.

Closing delayed

HUD needs to delay closing and for the first time this is working out to my benefit. We shouldn't have a problem getting the 20% down with this much time but I guess we'll see how it all plays out. I called my realtor to see if we can get the utilities turned on so my buyer can inspect prior to our closing. This way he will not have to delay his closing.

I'll keep ya'll posted.....

Closing... maybe?

Well the HUD closing is scheduled for Thursday, yes that is the day after tomorrow! Actually I was told yesterday that HUD might need an extension b/c they still need to get a special assessment paid off or something. My bank is willing to do the loan but only with my 20% downpayment. Great... I don't have that since it is all tied up in my other properties. Okay so now what? 1.) I called some of the Platinum credit cards I got way back when (and never used) but they were all canceled... because I never used them. Suggestion to anyone reading this blog, keep you Lines of credit open in case you ever need them. 2.) I have some money in my 2 business LOC and 1 of my other credit cards but not enough to cover the full 20% (not to mention I don't think I would get them in my account by tomorrow. 3.) Use an HML that is asking for MORE information than any bank has ever asked for and still is not confirming he will fund the deal. Also, IF they did the deal it could take them up to 2 weeks to close. 4.) Ask my parents. This is the direction I will most likely take today but I have to tell you I hate, hate, hate asking them for anything. They are wonderful people and have told me from the beginning if I needed anything just ask but I'm a stubborn person and believe in making things happen for yourself. So there you have it....

I guess there isn't anything else I have to share except that today is my sons 1st birthday! Time flies people, I can't believe he is ONE!

Everyone have a good day!

When does persistence turn in to stupidity?

Real quick, I only have a few minutes...

Did anyone watch the new show "Shark Tank" the other night? One contestant wanted money to put computers or something (it wasn't computers) in doctors offices. The "sharks" did not like the idea and turned him down. They asked him how much of his own money he put into this idea and he said "Everything, I re-financed my house - twice, pulled money from my 401k, used my kids college funds" and then he started to tear up. It was really hard to watch but, for me, I kind of saw myself in him. Don't get me wrong, I haven't done anything he has as far as using my family's money. However, I connected with the "do whatever it takes to succeed" which is when I started thinking when do you know what is persistence is really stupidity? I haven't decided yet : )

I was home with my 1 year old M, T and W since he had a high fever. During that time I was working my ass off to get my HUD property financed. You know, the one we have a contract on? I'm still not sure my bank is going to do it but I'll let you know when I find out.

The other HUD property I was looking at had a higher bid, a MUCH higher bid. I put in a bid of $68k and they offered $110k. heehee. It was a nice house too, well as nice as HUD homes go.

There is another REO that looks promising so we're going to put an offer on that too.

Dave's sister is getting married this weekend and the whole family is standing up in the wedding (except me, I am doing a reading at the church). We are going to be running like a bunch of lunatics this weekend.

I think my home computer has a virus or something. I need to take it in. It is running so slow I barely want to use it anymore. Literally it takes me 10 minutes to log on and open my email... pathetic.

Okay, I gotta run but hopefully we'll have some good news on something next week!

Have a good weekend!

This business will be the death of me : )

It will be the death of me with all these ups and downs and ups and downs and ups....

I took Shae's advice and emailed my buyers list which isn't super long but, who knows? I asked who was still actively buying and, specifically, what their criteria was. I told them that I was streamlining (sp?)/tailoring my business for them. Did I suck up too much? I'll give you the outcome next week as I just sent the email. Also, there is another HUD property in a very sought after area where one of my buyers looks so I sent him a 'teaser' email to see if it was something we would go crazy over or not? I did not give too much away since I do not have it under contract yet. We can not submit an offer until Monday. I'm sure there are a lot of investors waiting for the open bid.

We ended up getting an offer on our HUD property that is supposed to close on 8/20 and he wants to close on 9/12. Wish it was sooner but he will be out of town for 2 weeks after I close and he can't close on the 20th. This is good. I'm still nervous about him backing out but he seems solid so we'll see. It makes me happy we have an offer. Hopefully it will help me secure financing. HA, yeah, I don't even have financing lined up. Flying by the seat of your pants isn't all fun and games!

As for the 2/1 in Lake Geneva, the backup buyer is no longer interested - shocker. However, we have sllliiiim hope of getting someone in to buy it with bad credit. My lender is calling him. If the loan does not work out he want to rent to own. We'll see how it goes. It may not be the best scenario but it will be something.

One more thing, I listened in to Bob Nortons KISS Flipping webcast last night (until my sound stopped for some reason?) and I soooooooooo want to do that. I think having a mentor to go through flipping from A - B would be priceless. Of course, I do not have the money right now to get it. Hell, I don't even have credit to get it (not that I would go that route you Dave Ramsey fans - ha, ha). At any rate, I hope he continues to take students in the future b/c as soon as I DO have money I will be signing up for his course.

I think that's it for now. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Only gettin' worse

Seriously, I don't know that I am cut out for this RE "stuff". I know it is the only way to my personal dreams and ambitions but nothing, and I mean nothing, is going right these days. I hear y'all saying, "if it were easy everyone would be doing it". Got it. I know there are ups and downs but I only seem to be dealing with the downs lately. Last week gave me a glimmer of hope that things were looking up but then, BAM, the pendulum swung the other way, down. I am as close to giving up as ever and I can say I have NEVER thought of giving up before. After almost 2 years of REI you would think that I would have gotten better at things. Nope. It seems I have only gotten worse. I am not sure how that came to be? Okay, here is what's going on:

* The buyer for the Lake Geneva property backed out. Thought this might happen but hoped like hell it wouldn't. This was my shining star when I was getting down on myself last week. Now thats gone!

* There were 2 people that went through my HUD property (that I am supposed to close 8/20) and both claimed there are foundation issues. I had my contractor out to look before signing docs (3+ weeks ago) and he said it was fine. To make a looong story short we are all going out there again Saturday to see what's going on. I may lose my EMD if there really are foundation issues. I can afford to lose my EMD like I can afford a big, gaping hole in my head.

* We are flat broke - again! I thought we were digging ourselves out, well we WERE digging ourselves out with the flips but then it all came to a screeching halt. Day care is just killing us with no extra income. Just killing us.

* The thought of having to work past my 8/2011 "end date" makes me want to cry. Actually I did cry all the way into work this morning. This thought does make me want to perservere but I truly don't know if I have the energy/guts to keep going.

My current uplifting things:

* I can refinance my condos to include my unsecured LOC that's killing us.

* I am putting the condos up for sale w/ the renters. I don't think they will sell for what I want but I'm just putting them out there hoping for that one buyer.

* We are putting the Lake Geneva property back on the market w/ my realtor at $69k. I am going to lose another $3k probably, making it a $6k loss, or so. If no contract in a month I am going to put another for Rent ad in the paper - maybe I can sell it as a rental?

I basically want to wipe the slate clean and start all over........... I gotta go to work - urgh. Thanks for letting me vent.

Realtors...

Well the aspiring realtor/investor spoke to his boss who told him the following:

I talked with my manager and he said I can't do it unless:

1. I have a one party Listing Contract which at the mininum of $4000 commission.
or
2. I have a one property Buyers Agent Agreement with each Buyer you provide - I would need this signed before I even show it - with all terms stated within.

This is to protect me and my companies interest in the deal also this is the law that I need a contract to deal with for sale by owner fi not in the MLS as such (which you are).

At this point I cannot procede - sorry about that.

So now I'm back to square one with this property. Mother fucker. I wouldn't mind having a 1 party listing contract but I'm not giving a $4k commission. Did his boss pull that out of thin air or does he have an idea what I'm making on the property? Dammmmmiiiittttttt..............

Contacts, contracts, new offers, Dave Ramsey, etc

I have been advertising my new HUD property on craigslist and am getting a decent response, usually I only get spammed. I also have it in the paper but only received one call so far. That surprised me. One of my responders from craigslist just happens to be a realtor/aspiring investor. We got to talking and I asked if he would show my HUD property for a commission/bonus if sold by a certain date. He said yes. Soo, I'm trying to set up times for my interested parties to see the place. I hope he doesn't get "caught" showing the place b/c I left out the fact that they could get irritated by showing prior to closing. BUT, b/c he wants to be an investor I think he wouldn't care anyway. I guess we will see.

My Lake Geneva contract has not fallen apart yet. Of course as I'm writing this I may be getting a VM stating the opposite. I'm not trying to be negative, I just want it gone and I'm being realistic. It's a nice house, it still baffles me?!?! This past Wednesday I got a call from a gal who went through the property the same night that my current buyer went through. She wanted to know if it was still available and I told her no, we had a contract. She asked if it was solid and said she was very interested. Sooo, if this one DOES fall through at least I can give her a call. She wanted to be added to my buyers list too.

I'm putting another offer on a HUD property (why do they have to be my best deals?!). It is "All Reasonable Offers" we're going to see how low they go. But, if I can use this realtor to show the properties then I will be set... for now.

Outside of that offer and another one I'm watching, I have kind of backed off submitting offers b/c I want to be sure Lake Geneva closes and I also want to focus on finding a buyer for my current HUD. I know I need to "keep things in the pipeline" but I need to get back to a clean slate too (minus the rentals which are a whole other story I'm not going into right now).

I picked up my Dave Ramsey book again this week and am all pumped to get our budget together. I guess that would put us in the pre-Baby Step 1 stage. My biggest, biggest, biggest hurdle is going to be getting my husband on board. He seems to think we have that money tree out back that I find so damn elusive! If I can get him on board we will be good to go. I know this is going to take time and change so we'll see how he reacts.

My husbands sister is getting married next month and I'm going to bachelorette party tonight. It should be fun. We're going to Chicago and our first stop is a pole dancing club. heehee. I think it is a pole dancing fitness club that you can rent out for parties. You can bring in booze and food, much needed. After that we're heading out to the bars. I'm looking forward to it and can't WAIT to see my mother in law on the pole! I always say I'll post pictures but never do. If I get some good shots I'll put them up!

Everyone have a good weekend!

Not such a great week after all...

Well, the HML decided against lending to us b/c the property is outside of his area. He is very willing to lend to us w/in a certain area. I've now had contact with 2 HML's and they both are hesitant to lend at all b/c they both had to take back 2 properties each. Urgh.

I still have not heard from the local banks. One is just not calling me back at all which is totally unprofessional in my eyes. She can't even tell me I was declined? The other said he would call me this week. This one is to re-fi' my condos to pay off my unsecured LOC downpayment. I'm hoping to also build a relationship re: investment properties.

The REO we got under contract is not going to happen. My husband went there today and there is a lot more water damage/mildew and we found out the driveway does not belong to the house, it belongs to the neighbor (who is tearing it out - nice!). Sucks. I was hoping for 2 closings in August...

I'll keep plugging away... I need to find out how I can show these HUD properties w/o some pissed off realtor turning me into the HUD police.

Updates

It's been a pretty good week! I do not have a ton of time so I'm going to use bullet points:

* Working on more financing options. I have applications into 2 local banks and also trying to get a HML lined up. We have been playing phone tag.

* Got an offer on the 2/1 in Lake Geneva. I will be losing about $3k on this deal but just want it closed and gone. My fingers will be tightly crossed for the next month in hopes that it closes with no problems.

* Got another offer accepted. This is an REO we have been watching for many, many months. It had an accepted offer, financing fell through. Then it had another accepted offer and that person (an agent, I guess) "fell off the planet" so the listing agent said. I will be showing/advertising this property as soon as I get the signed contract back from the bank. I'm hoping to get a buyer before closing on this one (you know, the way it's SUPPOSED to be done : ) )

* I took the REL test Weds and passed. Too funny. I learned a lot over the past 2 years so that helped in my studying/test taking.

I think that's it for now. Hopefully next week will be just as good and productive!

Where to start?!

I'm back from a wooonderfuul vacation! It took me a while to relax and get in the "zone" but boy howdy when I found it I didn't want to leave : ) I just loved hangin' with the family, friends and especially my kids. Oh how I miss them now. Not that I didn't miss them before but we had such a wonderful week together I want it all the time now. Anyhoo, I'm back at work now and hating every minute of it. Not really, it's okay.

So real quick about the last rental property I bought... it has HUGE cracks in the cement in the screened in porch and add on dining room area. Of course I am livid and didn't see it b/c it was covered by carpet. I got my guy in there again and he said it is not the main foundation of the house (which is good, of course) but it will be expensive to fix in order to resell one day. Why do we now see it? Because the renters pulled up the carpet in the screened in porch and discovered the crack. Then moving into the add on dining area (where there is more carpet), you have to feel for the cracks and most of them were under the table. Was any of this disclosed? Naw, why would they. This guy owned the house for 18 years, don't tell me he didn't know. At any rate I have a call into a lawyer and am waiting to hear back from him. With my luck I'm just stuck with it since it's not the main foundation. I'm going to make a couple other calls b/c I haven't heard back from this guy yet and I'm anxious.

On to the HUD property. My HML fell through - no financing. Ha, ha, ha. I'm full of good news, right? I'm not sure what we are going to do? I told my insurance guy to put all on hold and then asked if he had any HML's and he does. This may be a good thing, we'll see.

We put an offer of $40k on a property listed at $59k (short sale) and the owner rejected. Funny. I always laugh when the owner rejects or counters. Leave that up to the bank.

I am doing my triathlon this Saturday. I think I am going to die. Well at the very least I am going to be so sore on Sunday I will not be able to move! Needless to say my training has been nonexistent.

I also signed up to take the REL exam next Weds. I figured I needed to just take the test. What is the worst that can happen? I'll fail. I decided I needed to take things into my own hands when I told my realtor about the foundation issues and I didn't hear back from her for 4 days. I had to call HER for an update (which there wasn't one). This is a B-I-G deal for me.

I'm sure there is more but I have to run. Hopefully I'll have some good news soon!

HUD Update #2

Well, I got someone to write up my 'HUD Specific' pre-approval letter. Damn they make things difficult! I actually think he had to re-write it twice to meet their approval. So who did I use? As I'm walking out of work Monday night, thinking I was going to lose out on the property, I thought- HEY - I'm going to call Ed Goggins. He is the mortgage guy I used last year for our pre-hab and also acquired another property (the duplex) with a hard money loan he referred. Some time last year the Hard money guy stopped lending so I've only talked to Ed a handful of times over the past year, mainly about rentals (he's been a big help in that area too). I thought maybe the HML was lending again or that Ed can just write me up a letter. I called him on my way home Monday and he called the HML but has not gotten a response yet. However, he did write up the pre-approval letter for me so we have the property locked in. NOW, I need to find a buyer. I just asked my realtor again if I can have a key but I'm pretty sure I know how that is going to go. She mentioned a while ago that they have extras around the office and she might just "misplace" one but I never got it. We'll see what she says. Otherwise my plan is to advertise like hell, set up a group showing and hopefully get a contract. Once again, another reason to get licensed! I thought about bringing my REL book on vacation next week but I decided against it. I just need time to relax and not think about work... any kind of work! All work and no play, right?

We are putting in 2 more offers. One is a HUD property and the other is a regular bank owned. We'll see how they go.

HUD Update #1

We have not heard from HUD yet as to whether I lost the bid b/c of no loan commitment. Apparently this is new protocol. They used to use the banks pre-approval my realtor sent over but now they are requring the bank to put it on their letter head or something. Why my lady at the bank can't just do that and if I can't find a buyer/other funding I'll lose my EMD? It's my risk... She is very, very, very conservative. I liked my residential loan lady at this bank better. I'm currently under the commercial side of things. I want to ask for a new person but I'm SURE I would be rocking the boat so I'll just bide my time here.

Anyway, I was given the number of a lady who works with hard money lenders in the area and called her this morning. I gave her the information and will hopefully be hearing back from her today with some good news. My contractor went out over the weekend and said the water in the basement is due to grading/no gutters. This is what I thought. Is it possible I'm actually learning something? Soooo, I truly think this is a great deal I just need someone to agree with me and give me some moola for the transaction (or at least a loan commitment).

Wish for some good news...

Yet another Hiccuup

Sooo, I get a VM from my mortgage lady today at 5pm saying that she needs more information on "this house on 7th" (which is my new HUD property). I call her back and she asked about the property. I proceed to tell her that it is a 3/1, 1 car detached garage, nice lot, nice town etc... Then she proceeds to tell me that I have maxed out my $120k pre-approval amount and she cannot give me a loan commitment on this property. Urrrgh. Why did she even ask about the property?! AND why is everythng so damn difficult! She basically said since we have not sold the 2/1 in Lake Geneva she could not commit on this loan. I gotta tell ya, I kinda knew this might happen. I mean, did I really think they would give me unlimited funds? It would be nice but I have been waiting for the "ax to drop". So now I have to find out if the whole deal will fall through if they do not get commitment. I called my realtor and she has not called me back. My inspector is going out tomorrow to take a look at the basement so al this may be a non-issue if there are major issues. AND since this is a HUD property they are extremely hard to show prior to closing. I may have to pay my realtor off to get a key, show and just take the chance. I need to get a buyer fast. I hate the fact that she tells me this on Friday at 5pm so I have no chance in contacting anyone else before Monday. Now just have to think about it all weekend..........

Side note: I am going to through my POS computer on the floor and stomp on it. It is so friggin' slow it drives me absolutely CRAZY doing anything on it. I mean I am so annoyed right now. And there must be something wrong with the keyboard. I type fast and now letters are not coming up so I have to watch everything I type to be sure all my letters pop up.

Why can't anything be easy?!?! Because everyone would be doing it, right?! I know... Monday I'll be calling banks in the town where this property is located AND calling a couple hard money lenders to see if they are still lending.

I've got to get off this computer before I throw it against the wall. Later..........

HUD Property

We got a HUD property under contract Monday! It is a 3/1, 1.5 story home with a 1 car detached garage in a really cute town. There is almost no work that needs to be done BUT there is water in the basement. I'm pretty sure I know why the water is getting in but will be having my inspector go through when we get all the paperwork sent in. It seems HUD has changed their policy to allow 15 days for inspection after getting the property under contract vs. 24 hours or something crazy like that! There are several homes that have sold recently in this town and the average sale price is $120k. We have ours under contract for $50k and I'm allocating $15k for repairs assuming of course, that the water in the basement is due to no gutters. If it's not b/c of the missing gutters this deal will change immensely. If the water is due to the gutters I think we have a pretty good deal here! We need a good flip baaad. I'll let ya'll know how the inspection turns out.

We close on our next rental this Friday. Nothing too exciting about this one... everything is already in place.

The condo deal is still a possibility. Apparently the "investor" that the bank was pushing the deal on is either not interested or their offer is lower than mine. Now the bank in pursuing the owner of "phase 2" of the condo complex. He has already said he wasn't interested but I guess they are trying everything they can to get the best "bang for their buck". Can't say I blame them. And in all actuality, I'm not real sure I'll be able to pull this deal off anyway. Maybe if the the "money man" came through it might be a possibility. However, it's not something I am pushing right now. I'm really bad at this kind of stuff...

There are a couple other REO's I'm looking at but nothing but the HUD in the pipeline.

I've decided to take the week after the 4th of July off. I haven't had a week off without being pregnant or a newborn in my arms for over 5 years!!! I think I'm going to head on over to my familys lakehouse for the week and have a few cocktails, sit in the sun, have a few cocktails, play with the kiddies, have a few cocktails, you know, just chill out. I've been feeling very stressed and anxious and wound up about lots of things. And I've been feeling like I totally hate my job and want to walk out the door. Not a good thing : ) I need a break!

That's it for now!

Lightbulb?

I think I have an idea as to why I'm getting so frustrated/"lost" with my REI lately. First let me say that I'm trying to make monthly goals ala Steph's blog. I don't think I consciously thought about this months goal but it just kind of came to be while I was trying to work through my "lost" feeling. My goal is to just take a step back, relax and try to pinpoint my problem areas. I know this sounds like a lot but it's really not. It is just me trying to take a breather. So anyway, one of the reasons I think I'm getting frustrated is because I have not done a flip since April. It's been 2 MONTHS!! It's not that I haven't been doing REI at all b/c I've been renting out my condos, getting a new rental under contract and trying to sell my 2/1 (thanks Shae for pointing this out to me!). However what I have not been doing is getting properties under contract to flip. Of course it's not for lack of trying but we just haven't gotten a good deal yet. So when I get frustrated it's because I have nothing to flip and nothing on the horizon. I just have to keep reminding myself that we are moving forward in the long-term department and have to just keep submitting offers for the quick flip department! It will happen. I'm impatient and I want deals to happen faster than they do. I need to learn patience!

Updates

We found another renter for our 2nd condo. We should be signing the contracts this weekend. Yeah! Hopefully (and hopefully is the key word) we'll be done with these condos until next year. Or, if we're lucky, our renters will be great and want to stay another year! Each unit should cash flow $150/month.

We have another property under contract. This will be another rental for us. It was on the market a couple months ago and had an offer right away. That offer fell through and then we jumped on it again. It is right in our town, huge house, huge yard, detached 2 car garage, cash flow approx. $350/month. It is currently rented through August '10 to the same family that's been in it for the previous 2 years. I think this is a good investment and fits with my current goals.

I have been submitting a lot of offers lately. I'm trying hard to get another flip under my belt SOON! There are a few houses that have been sitting out there a long time and the bank "just wants to get rid of". However, their idea of price and my idea of price are still pretty far apart. My offers are very low b/c I want to be sure I'm not stuck with another property I don't intentially want to keep - ha, ha. So we're looking at offers in the $30's and $40's. We submitted on a property last week that has been on the market over a year. It needs almost no work, very cute house and has been sitting for a price of $104k. No one is touching it. Why? I'm really not sure but the lising agent told us to "just make an offer". Soooo, I offered $45k knowing I would negoitate a bit. Using the 70% rule I put a FMV of $89k minus $5k repairs minus $10k wholesale fee I was sitting at $47,300k. Anyway, the listing agent asked my agent if my offer was a joke and the seller (who is in FC by the way) countered at $99k! Only $5k off list price. I about fell over when I saw that. The house has been on the market for OVER A YEAR! Whatever, I told my agent I wasn't coming up if she wasn't willing to negotiate and that I would wait for the bank to take possession. I felt kinda mean saying that but, really, what a dumbass.

We were called on another property we made an offer on a while ago because the bank "wants to sell". Yeah, I've heard that before! It is listed at $84.5k and my offer is $35k. This house needs lots of work. It is another big, big house with an attached garage but, again, it needs a lot of work and it sits on a busy street with a pretty small yard. We'll see what they say.

The 5 condo deal has been brought to the surface again. It seems the other "investor" submitted an offer close to mine but the bank hasn't accepted anything yet. These properties would cash flow about $175/month/unit for this year. If I got them I would fight the assessment and get the taxes lowered so they would cash flow another $125ish/month/unit next year for a total of $300/month/unit. If I got these units I would be well on my way to my August 2011 end date! Focus, focus, focus. I really want/need a quick flip though! We'll see how it all pans out.

I just got off the phone with my realtor who has a potential "money man" for me. Someone who is looking to invest in real estate without doing much. Maaaaan, if I had access to unlimited funds at a decent rate that would be fantastic! Just fantastic. I don't know if this will pan out either but we need to go down all avenues!

Okay, I think I've said enough and caught up on my blogging. It's been over a week! We were sooo busy last weekend. My husbands sister/nieces were in from Atlanta and I took 2 days off so we kept busy visiting with relatives.

Anyway, hopefully I'll have something pop soon.

One more thing... I still have not sold the 2/1 in Lake Geneva. Crap. I'm going to list as a rental and see if anyone is interested. If not I'm going to list for a loss.

Baby Steps

As I stated in my last post I'm feeling a little overwhelmed right now. I know what my issues are (at least some of them) and need to attack them the best I can. One of my issues is time management. Since my husband has gone back to work my RE time has gone waaay down and my stress level has gone waaay up. Of course it's a good thing that he's back to work but it can definately be challenging trying to work things into my schedule. I feel like I've got a million things on my plate and one of the reasons I feel that way is b/c I am not organized. I am a terrible procrastinator and terribly unorganized. It's a wonder I make it through a day sometimes (I'm sure you will find this quote in earlier posts - heehee). At any rate, my first "baby step" was to get out a handheld notebook given to me by my title company 2 months ago. I've been writing my 'to dos' in the book all week and I've actually accomplished a lot. I'm feeling very good/productive about that. I need to keep this up and more productive actions will follow suit!

Struggling to get back on track

Okay, I had the meeting with the mortgage lady and it was kind of a waste of time. Well it wasn't really a waste of time as much as we could have done it ALL over the phone. It ended up that she gave me a loan application to fill out and she was going to talk to one of her commercial loan officers this week. I'm pretty confident that isn't going to happen unless I constantly harrass her. It was also apparent that there was not going to be any zero downpayment loans coming my way. However, she did stress the no payments for 6 months which I liked. The commercial loan officer she is going to talk to is the same guy I worked with last year on a simo flip. My buyer used him and he is the reason I called this bank. The reason I did not call this guy in particular is b/c his branch is so far away from where I buy. In hindsight I should have called him anyway, he is the guy I should have been talking to. Well, at least I got in to see her and I will fill out the loan app and see what happens. It never hurts to build more relationships in this business.

I have not been listing my weekly goals b/c... well, I'm not sure? I feel kind of "lost" and overwhelmed now. I have 4 books at home I want to read but I only get through about 5 pages a night in 1 book. The first is my real estate license book which is HUGE and I just can't seem to get through it. The second is the Dave Ramsey book I was given (which I NEED to read!). The third and fourth books are the new landlording books I ordered last week. Since I have no freakin' clue what I am doing in this area I thought I should read up on it.

I am also "lost" because that 2/1 in Lake Geneva is still not sold. In fact, I'm having a hard time finding someone interested in renting the damn thing. I have totally lost faith in myself. I must say it's a pretty crappy feeling! I'm seriously thinking about lowering the price another $10k and taking a loss just to be rid of it. I would lose about $3k, I think.

I'm pretty close to finding a 2nd renter for my condos. There is a 2nd showing today and they seem like a nice family so... cross your fingers. The issue with this property though is that I've got my 20% downpayment tied up (which equals about $28k). I use a unsecured LOC so my payments are almost $650/month ALONE. I need to get this property refinanced so I can get my money out.

With all this said I am still putting offers on on various properties. However I am nervous about each and every one - "will I find a buyer", "will I be able to close w/o a buyer", "are my numbers right", etc., etc... As I said above I've lost faith in myself. I have NOT lost faith in the business and know that people make bad decisions at times but it still sucks. I know I will learn from this but I just want to move forward. I feel stagnant right now, you know, like I'm spinning my wheels. I need those wheels to hit the pavement again. It will just take time.

I've got to go back to work... hope everyone is having a good week.

Deleted blog/updates

I spent about 20 minutes yesterday writing about everything thats been going on and when I hit "publish post" my computer errored out. When I went back my post was gone - crap. I thought this blogger saved the post until it was published but I couldn't find a copy of it anywhere.

Anyhoo... I don't have a ton to update.

First, we got one renter in this past weekend. I was a nervous wreck ALL weekend wondering if I had all the paperwork, if it was correct, if everything was done in the unit, etc, etc. I have a major learning curve here and just want to push through it and get this done. I also ordered 2 landlording books online and are waiting for them to arrive. I'm showing it to 3 people tonight so hopefully we'll have the other one rented

Two, I have my appointment with the mortgage lady on Friday. Hopefully we'll have access to new mortgage loans.

Third, there may be another interested party in the 5 condo deal. We're supposed to know by end of the week. I guess I'll also know if we will have a loan for these by Friday too.

Fourth, nothing new on my 2/1.

Fifth, my realtor totally pissed me off this weekend. Can't get into it now but needless to say I read 2 chapters last night in my REL book.

I'm sure there is more but I have to go train now...

Quick Update - Thanks Steph!

The mortgage lady emailed me first thing this morning to set up an appointment. It will either be this week or next Friday. I'm shooting for this week.

I would have never thought of getting an email address. Thanks Steph!!

Completely absorbed with rentals

Okay I don't think I completed ONE goal from last week. I take that back, I did get the email address of the mortgage lady at the bank (suggestion from Steph). Yesterday I emailed her so I can set up an appt next week. Unfortunately she hasn't responded yet. My parents spend a lot of time up here during the summer so I have sort of a built in baby sitter at night if I need to do things. I'm really, really, really hoping to get in to see her. I just read Shae's blog and they are refinancing out of a HML to a 5.5% loan - SWEET! Since I am holding the condos this is what I want to do. I've been talking to my current morgage lady and she's telling me I need to hold my units, with leases in place, for a minimum of 2 months before they will do anything with the equity. I just need to talk to some other places and get a feel for what other banks will do. I've been thinking of just taking a day off work to walk in to the banks and talk to people.

As the title says, I have been so focused on getting the rentals filled that I have not submitted any offers. I think I have both condos filled but need to get the leases signed. I saw a HUGE increase in respondents when it was advertised as just a rental vs. rent to own. I didn't expect that. Anyway, I'm now trying to get some appliances in asap so these people can move in. The one side is a little dirty and smells like smoke so I'm going this weekend to clean and air out. We already had it painted and the carpet cleaned but it still smells. Any suggestions?

We still do not have an offer on the 2/1. I am lowering the price by $5k and if we do not have it sold by the listing contract end date I'm going to rent this too. This will be good cash flow.

The bank is standing firm on the 5 condo deal in Darien. They are sticking with $70k/condo and I am at $65k. This is still a smokin' deal at $70k but I cannot commit to this until I find a bank that will finance me 100% OR be willing to refinance me fairly quickly. If I can't find a bank to finance it 100% (which wouldn't surprise me) I'm hoping I can find one who will use the equity in my condos as the downpayment. This way I will not have anything out of pocket. My current mortgage lady said they would consider using the equity in my condos after the 2 months. So if I can't find anyone to do it prior to that I guess I'll have to wait. One of two things will happen...

1.) They will be sold to someone else - wasn't meant to be (I'm trying my damndest though)
2.) I may get a cheaper deal - sweet!

Okay, I gotta go to work but I'm not sure how much real estate I'm going to get done this month. I have to focus on filling the condos and I need to re-organize my current offers, get out to see some houses, just get my shit together. I'm shooting to June to get back in "the game" as far as submitting offers.

You know, it's amazing how much I relied on my husband when he was laid off. Just amazing. Now that he's back at work my life is complete chaos - not in a bad way - just constantly busy. I'm very lucky I have great kids b/c they do a lot of RE with me. They are pretty laid back.

Anyway, gotta go.

Thought I was going to have good news...

I had a few calls on the condo rental ad and a serious inquiry on my 2/1 in Lake Geneva. Last night I met 2 interested parties for the condos - one filled out the rental app right there and the other took the app with them. I have not received the 2nd app yet. I did an initial bkgd check for the first couple and the wife looked good. The husband, on the other hand, was not so good. It doesn't appear to be anything HUGE but it's a lot of little stuff, like driving under the influence and pot possession. I don't know... I liked the wife a lot but don't want trouble. They want it so bad I thought it was a done deal.

I still haven't received the other application. I'm also showing it again on Sunday.

Tomorrow morning I am showing the 2/1 to a buyer and a rent to own(er). The rent to own guy seems serious but we'll see when they get inside. Otherwise no other calls.

Gotta go.

Accountability Monday... on Tuesday

Goals from last week:

* Start wish board - Not done. I thought about it all week. Does that count? I'm getting the board when I'm at the grocery store this week.
* Submit 4 offers - Done - none accepted
* Work out 3x - Done - Worked out 4 times
* Place ads on Craigslist - Done - No response
* Secure financing for condo deal - Kinda Done - Never got in touch with the lady at the bank. I left another message with her and, as expected, she never called. Steph suggested I try and get her email which will be on this weeks goals. I do have financing through my bank but wanted to avoid the 25% down. If I have to go this route I am going to get a HELOC for the 25% after closing so it will be like 100% financing. Hopefully that will work.

This weeks goals:
Work out 3x
Get email for lady at bank
Work on vision board
Submit 2 offers - Done
Begin Dave Ramseys book (it was given to me by a special angel!)
Sign up for RE licensing test
Look into placing ad in Chicago Tribune for 2/1 in LG

REI will be a little slow this week b/c my realtor is going to Atlantic City. This sucks that I rely on her to even get me information. I just added signing up for the RE licensing test to my goals. I think I have to take it before August.

Our offer on the 5 condos was rejected by the bank... expected. We were told they would accept something in the $60's so I re-submitted at $60k/condo. We were also told that the bank is getting someone from Green Bay to do the BPO. The BPO is going to come in waaaaay higher than $60k so I'm not sure how this is all going to play out.

We still have no bites on the condos OR the 2/1 in Lake Geneva. This is not good. Even with the Rent to Own ad in the paper I've only gotten a handful of calls. No one seems to be the least bit interested in this house. I guess I totally misjudged this house/location. I truly thought the area would be the big selling feature on this house especially since it's summer but nope, I was wrong. What I SHOULD do is place an ad in the Chicago Tribune's real estate section. Yeah, I'm going to add that to my Goals. Maybe someone wants a cheap 2nd house up this way? Good thinking.

I have another For Rent ad in the paper for the condos. We'll see what I get for that. Sucks.

I think that's it for now. Everyone have a good day!

Condo offer accepted...

Kinda. We put in the offer of $50k/unit for 5 units and the seller accepted. However, this is a short sale so ultimately, of course, the bank needs to accept. We all know how much I LOVE short sales. Thankfully I am not the one negotiating this deal, it is actually the seller who, "does short sales every day of the week". Let's hope he is good. We'll see...

I have been working on my goal to obtain financing for this deal and it's not going that great. I can get financing through my current local bank but they are requiring 25% downpayment w/ verifiable funds. What?! I don't have $50k-$65k just sitting around waiting to be used! I have been using my LOC which they have been happy with in the past. She explained why it needs to be verifiable but I don't really understand so cannot explain to you. In light of this I have been calling around to see if anyone else had better terms. Can I just say I hate cold calling banks. I don't know if it is truly classified as "cold calling" but I feel like I'm selling myself each time I call. So I spoke to a guy yesterday who basically said they would not be interested in the deal. Hmmm... nice. Personally I think these are no-brainers. They are all occupied with a $950+ rental income/unit. I must get these. If/when I close on these my plan is to convert all rental agreements into rent-to-owns to cash out in 2 years. Hmmm... that might coincide with something else in my life? Back to obtaining financing - I've been trying to call that other gal who I've been trying to get an appointment with for two weeks. She is one very hard woman to get in touch with. I've found if I leave msgs she does not return the call but if I get her on the phone I get great information. At any rate, I've been calling every day, a couple times a day and she's out of the office or with clients or in closings or blah, blah, blah. I'm calling again this afternoon and also calling my bank to see if they might be interested.

I put in my 4 offers and may submit 2 more. Three of the four offers were HUD properties and they countered each but were not low enough to even go view the property. I'm waiting for them to come down in price again.

Oh, I did end up putting an ad in the paper for Rent-to-own (RTO) on my 2br/1ba property in Lake Geneva. In order to complete one of my 2 year goals I need a certain number of RTO's with a minimum of $200 cash flow/month. If I sell this first, great, I'll just look for another RTO they should be easier to find. But, otherwise I'll keep and keep chippin' away at my goals.

That's it for now. Hope everyone has a great day!

Reflection

Well, I edited my last post because there may be some potential followers to this blog who do not need to know my future plans. This kind of sucks too because I wanted to lay out my plans in black and white 12 pt, arial font for the whole world to see. I have been thinking about my plans all morning and wrote out a few things that I want to accomplish. I can tell you though that my date is August of 2011. This may be too long for some and not long enough for others but I feel like it's doable for me. It will be difficult but I am going balls to the wall to get this done. I'm already feeling a weight lifted. I am going to write everything up and create some type of colorful board to look at every day. What is this called? A wish board - no? I know there was a big ta do about this a couple years ago. Was the book called "The Secret"? Whatever, I don't know but that is what I am going to do. Okay, I guess that is a goal - to start my wish board.

Goals:
Start wish board
Submit 4 offers
Work out 3x
Place ads on Craigslist (I get almost no response from CL, not sure why I do it?)
Secure financing for condo deal

Gotta run!

Updates

I've been meaning to post all week but just didn't seem to carve out the time. I do not really have a lot to post but wanted to give updates about my goals.

I never did meet with the lady at the bank - crap. But this was not because I didn't try. Here's a little backstory... every winter my husband gets laid off work and I am able to work my REI freely. However, now that he has gone back to work I am finding that meeting with bank personal/looking at properties/closings/etc. is much, much more difficult to schedule since I now have to get the kids from daycare. I was right on the edge of getting a new contact and now I'll have to wait in order to schedule another meeting. Patience...

I have 2 potential renters for my condos. We do not have anything signed yet so of course it's not "in the bag" but at least there is hope here.

I did not put an ad in the paper for the rent-to-own on my 2 bedroom. I'm giving it a few weeks on the market before I go that route. I did get a bunch of calls on Thursday but nothing with good potential. The reason I am waiting to do the rent-to-own on the 2BR is because there are 5 more condos that are interesting me (in another town/another subdivision). These would be long term holds. I am looking to get them for $65k/condo and each are rented for $950 (one is rented for $995). They are 2 years old and look/smell brand new. I'm not sure how my mortgage lady will take this OR if she'll even finance it so I am going to talk to her Monday. I'll let ya'll know what happens.

Finally, my boss gave me a little nudge yesterday into thinking - AGAIN - about how much I want to leave this job. He is such an ass. Don't worry, if he ever read through this blog this information wouldn't be anything new to him. I'm going to think about this over the next week.

I'm sure there is more but I gotta run!

Accountability Monday...

Weeell, I didn't do too great on my goals BUT I didn't do too bad either. We got out 6 offers (check), I worked out 2 times instead of 3 (pseudo check) and I called one rent to own in the paper. This guy was a total ass and made me very self concious to call anyone else! I know, I need to get over it and move on - make those calls!

Goals for this week:
Work out 3x
Meet with the new local bank (hopefully tonight)
Get ad in paper for rent-to-own on my new 2BR house
Find renters for my last pain in the ass set of condos
Re-assess my strategies

I am closing on the 2BR house tonight. Well, I'm actually pre-signing and the actual closing is tomorrow. I put the contract on this house with an exit strategy of Rent-to-Own. However I put an ad in the paper for a quick sale and am having dismal results. Usually when I put my "Owner Desperate" ads in the paper I get loads of calls but not with this property. Of course this is making me very nervous about my price and the 2BR thing. I knew this was a sort of 'test' to see how well 2BR's went over and it's not looking good. I have had about 7-8 calls on it but not one has wanted to go through it. This is in a very sought after lake community and is the cheapest house in the area that doesn't need any work. The closest priced home is $10k higher and has foundation issues. We'll see...

Still have not put in renters in my condos. These things are just going to give me a headache. We did get an offer on 1 late last week but I think it is going to fall through. We'll see how that goes too.

What else?!? I think I am offering too much for properties. My offers going forward are going to be much, much lower. I started last week with one... It was going to be $50k and I changed it to $35k.

I'm sure there is more but I need to get back to work.

Closings/Offers/40th BDay party

I should have 2 closings this week. The first is tonight for one set of condos. This is the 3rd set that I've bought/sold over the past 5 months. I am still holding the last set with no buyers lined up nor any rent-to-owners. I thought I had one lady who wanted it bad but we haven't heard from her in a while. At any rate, I will only be making about $3.5k tonight at closing on both units but I'm good with that. And, we will continue the search for rent-to-owners.

The second closing is tentatively scheduled for Friday. If it's not Friday it will be next week. This is for the HUD property that we closed on last week. We got the buyer from the HUD property we sold last month. He wanted that one but it was already sold. Michelle told him about this one and he put in an offer. We didn't even have to market. I wish they were all this easy. Again, we're not making a killing but it's paying the bills and I don't have to stress about holding too many properties.

We will be submitting more than 5 offers this week, I think. I will know for sure tonight when I talk to Michelle at the closing. I am participating in Steph's accountability Mondays and that is one of my goals. It is a great idea and one that I hope I stick with.

My husbands 40th birthday party was this past weekend and we all had a ball! It was such a good time. I didn't go to bed until about 4am and there were about 15 people up still dancing after that. I will try to post some pictures later. My home computer is so slow I hate posting anything... it takes forever and a day.

I think that's it for now.

So I'm trying Rent-to-own on my last set of condos. It's not going great... I've only had the ad in the paper since Friday but I only got 2 calls. The 1 guy is interested but I think I have him thoroughly confused. I'm not very good at explaining things and tend to scare people away, I think. This is one reason why I was never very good at short sales. I just called my mortgage gal and she is going to touch base with him tomorrow and see how good/bad his credit actually is. It sounds like he wants to get both units so he can live in 1 and rent out the other. I'm just not sure that is going to work for him doing a rent to own. I'll have to think about that and if anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears! These things are a pain in my ass and I just want them GONE! Unfortunately for me I think I will have them forever...

We lost out on the other 2 properties I wanted. I really thought I had a chance with the one that had a super low starting price but apparently someone wanted it more than me. Personally I think there is something "weird" with the RE agency. You know, maybe they do not play by the rules?! Hmmm. I'm going to watch that one and see where the buyers came in on price.

I did go look at the property where the bank came down $10k. I thought it would be a total dump but it was actually pretty nice. Of course it needs the obligatory carpet/paint/windows/roof but that is about it. I'm sure there are some other minor things but nothing major (at least that I know of prior to my contractor looking at it). The bank came down to $55k, I was at $42k and came up to $50k. I'm just waiting on them to respond now. This is a huge house with lake views but no garage. What's up with the no garages?!?!

Nothing else happenin' - ate like a pig on Easter. It was wonderful!! ha, ha.

Accepted contract/Called Bank!

We got one of our offers accepted! This is the 2/1 with no garage in a sought after town (Lake Geneva, WI). Again I have not bought a 2/1 until now so it will be interesting to see how this plays out. I am going to forward the info to my buyers list and maybe call a couple "For Rents" in the paper and feel it out. This is NOT a grand slam by any means but I'll be surprised if I have trouble unloading it (famous last words).

I finally called the local bank I've been meaning to call. In fact I just hung up with her. I am going to give her a call and meet with her next week, hopefully. She mentioned their "in house" products could have no downpayment, depending on our working relationship (of course), and she does the underwriting for those. And, it would also include no payments for the first 6 months... sweet. I want to take this contract to her so we can start building the relationship. If I could get no downpayment and no pay for 6 months I would be REALLY happy and I would be able to accomplish a lot more deals. I wish I could meet with her Monday but this damn J.O.B. is holding me back. I'm taking off early Thursday (for a closing - maybe - I'll get into that in another blog) and Friday. We're having a 40th birthday party for my husband on Saturday. It should be lots of fun - adult fun. heehee.

I'll keep you posted on everything. I'm goin' home!

Complete gut rehab - Dump

The property where the bank came down $20k is a complete rehab/dump. Anything would be good at the right price I suppose but this house was downright scary. Not in the TampaSteph sort of way (at least that I know of) but just scary. It actually was a duplex, not a SF as I'd thought, 1/2 the windows were missing, tear off roof, new siding and gutting on the inside. The whole shabang. AND, there was a 1 bedroom house in the backyard. That was in OK shape but had water damage/mold. Whatever, I didn't counter back and will just watch it - maybe.

I looked at a couple other properties last night. One just came on the market 2 days ago at $55k (that is LOOW in my neck of the woods) so I had to see it. Of course I was expecting it to be a piece of shit but lo and behold it was in great shape. It has nice siding, new roof, HUGE yard, deck, french doors to deck, backs up to a school (could be good or bad), 1.5 car attached garage, minimal repair on the inside. I have no idea why they priced this puppy so low. It does only have 2 bedrooms/1 bath but there is a very large rec room in the basement. Someone could possibly use that for another bedroom. Anyhoo, they are taking offers through tomorrow so hopefully I'll know something by Friday?!

We also saw another property where they came down $20k. This one is also in decent shape but is a 2/1 with no garage. This is a great area with a great school district so I came up $8k and told them that was my highest and best. Apparently this is NOT a bank owned but an older couple that have moved out of state. We'll see if they are motivated enough to come down another $10k.

The last one I put an offer on was a 3/1 with no garage, GREAT yard, small deck, very little work. It's a small but cute house. Very nice, larger homes surround it but, directly across the street, there is a complete shithole. It sticks out like a sore thumb. It's really too bad for the neighborhood.

At any rate I'm hoping to have at least 1 if not 2 contracts for May! Wish me luck!